They did on The Simpsons......
Posted on 04/06/2017 9:04:34 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax
I started smoking in 1971; bought 3 packs of Camels one day (unfiltered) for a total of 99 cents plus tax.
But now, 46 years later, I no longer use tobacco. You see, seven years ago I switched to Electronic Cigarettes. Just pour in a little nicotine liquid mixed with vegetable oil—your choice of potency—and you’re all set to “vape” away. No lung-threatening, tarry chemicals. No smelly, annoying smoke to attract nasty looks. In fact, the “discharge” from these pricey little, battery-driven machines can be blown around your doctor’s consulting room and neither he nor his staff will be any the wiser.
It was the best of all possible worlds. I could continue to infuse myself at will with my favorite drug and risk no ill effects.
And did I take careless advantage of my discovery? I did not! In fact, to be extra cautious, I stopped inhaling the vapor altogether. Instead, I began drawing in the nicotine-laced smoke, rolling it around in my mouth and spitting it right back out with my next little bit of air. I had invented a thoroughly safe method of smoking—that is, of enjoying nicotine. Damn, I was clever!
Then suddenly, a few weeks ago, I couldn’t breathe. It was very late on a Sunday night and as I walked from my bathroom into my bedroom, I found I couldn’t get any air. Collapsing in a chair I began panting, gasping, sitting doubled over. I remembered a small, Albuterol inhaler I hadn’t used in quite some time, still laying on my night stand. I grabbed it and took 2 or 3 puffs. In a short time I began collecting a bit of oxygen; enough, at least, to be rid of some of the panic which had overtaken me. I’m not too proud to admit that I was scared as Hell.
I spent the rest of the night staring straight ahead, afraid to move lest that awful, complete loss of air should overtake me again. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor of 25 years and underwent a series of chest X-Rays. Getting to my car, walking into Eric’s office and later through the hospital; each was a more difficult and physically demanding task than anything I could remember taking on in decades. Of course, I finally had to ask that I be taken by wheelchair through the endless hospital corridors to X-Ray. I couldn’t walk the distance. I remember the X-Ray tech told me to take a deep breath and hold it as she pressed the button. Christ, if I’d been able to take a deep breath, I wouldn’t have been there. Standing quite still against the X-Ray backdrop, supported by nothing but my legs…and she wanted me to breathe too?
A “large pneumothorax” or collapsed lung. That was the diagnosis. And strangely enough, it was damned good news. For I hadn’t been home 30 minutes from X-Ray when the telephone rang and I read Eric’s name on the receiver. In 25 years he had never called me at home. Not once. I expected him to say, “Sorry Doug, but you have stage 4, lung cancer. With aggressive treatment, you could live a year, maybe more.” Talk about blood running cold. Seeing that name on my phone was the definition.
But my collapsed lung was very treatable. And that's why Eric had called--to recommend, strongly recommend as my friend and doctor that I head to the emergency room right away. A chest tube inserted to help the lung re-inflate, 2 ½ days in the hospital; a follow up visit with the surgeon and I’m still breathing just fine; or at least as well as I have for the past several years. And it all came with a free lesson in medicine and humility. For nicotine is the real culprit in cigarette tobacco, not tar or those other evil chemicals smokers have heard about for years on end. It’s nicotine that’s the real killer. As for my clever decision to switch to Electronic Cigarettes and avoid inhaling—I was kidding myself. I didn’t know. It seemed a damned good idea at the time. But not after talking with half a dozen doctors, each telling me just how dumb I was (in a very pleasant way, of course.)
The lesson is a simple one.
Anyone who smokes is a moron. I’ve seen the pictures of my lungs. So take my word for it. And there is NO way to game the system. There are no safe cigarettes—electronic or otherwise. And there is no safe method of infusing nicotine. Of course, nicotine-free liquid is available for those who wish (for whatever reason) to appear that they are smoking. But I’ll still guarantee that even that won’t be good for you.
So no preaching. Just quit and live longer or continue the intake of nicotine and die sooner. Enjoy.
[[ Nicotine isn’t natural.
It isn’t???
Tell that to a tomato. Or a potato. Or eggplant. Or a bell pepper.]]
Woohoo- I don’t have to quit smoking potatos and eggplants!
Government at both the State and Federal level collect a lot of money from cigarette taxes. As people have been successfully quitting cigarettes with the help of harmless E-cigs that revenue stream is drying up.
Expect more hysterics and fake news concerning E-cigs. Especially calls for “regulation”. That means tax, btw, not anything else.
Either his half-dozen doctors are all incompetent, or they don't exist.
Nicotine is the substance in tobacco that causes addiction. There is no serious research that claims it has any other ill health effects. Tar causes cancer. This is known.
We do not yet know what causes heart disease because of the complex ways that tobacco is changed when burned, and the complex mechanisms in the lungs and pulmonary circulation between tissue and smoke.
What we do know is that people who chew tobacco have no increased risk of coronary disease. We also know that former smokers placed on nicotine replacement therapy after a heart attack have almost the same risk of a second heart attack as non-smokers. Both of those facts tend to rule out the possibility that nicotine has anything to do with heart disease.
One thing we do know is this: There is a virulent group of crazed people who are out to banish all forms of nicotine consumption, and they don't mind publishing bogus research and nonsensical panic stories like this one.
I place the author of this story, who thinks nicotine "collapsed his lung" in this category.
Complete and utter nonsense.
Just do an internet search on nicotine overdoes or nicotine poisoning—it happens all the time. That’s all I’m talking about. Cigarette substitutes such as gum or e-cigs seem to be a major culprit. It’s just too easy to take way too much without knowing it.
Ed
Stage 4 lung cancer, that is why his lung collapsed. Before my sister died, one of her lungs collapsed for the second time and the doctors put her in hospice to await death. I am assuming the cancer had caused a breach in the lung.
Stage 4 lung cancer, that is why his lung collapsed. Before my sister died, one of her lungs collapsed for the second time and the doctors put her in hospice to await death. I am assuming the cancer had caused a breach in the lung.
There is ZERO evidence that nicotine causes heart disease.
ZERO.
Cite the research.
[[ After going for over a year with no urges to smoke I suddenly had numerous urges and I was getting ready to give up and have a cigarette until I realized a connection.]]
3 years later and I still get them- strong at times- I just weather it now- it’s much easier than it was in the beginning- as i know that I don’t want to go back to coughing incessantly, hacking up hplem constantly, being hoarse, and not breathing well again- I can’t even imagine wasting all that time effort and sweat i put into quitting by smoking another cigg now- it woudl be such a collosal waste of effort if i did smoke again-
Interesting. But no one eats tomatoes for the nicotine. You’d have to eat, what, maybe a thousand tomatoes to equal one cigarette? Please.....
I did. The article is 100% pure unadulterated BS. The author has no idea what he's talking about. It's complete nonsense.
They did on The Simpsons......
Good post. I tell smokers who have recently started that it will be much easier to eventually quit if they generally limit their smoking to one specific place. Like just outside where they live. If you don’t smoke anywhere else you don’t have to go through the pain of learning to be in those places and enjoying yourself without smoking. The car is a big one, I bet folks who never smoked in cars generally have an easier time quitting than those that did.
One thing I am completely against is telling folks they can’t smoke around me. I smoked for 20 years and telling people to buzz off for smoking seems way lame and unfun to me. I just watch their lit cigs like a raptor watching a rabbit.
FReegards
Me too. I smoked cigarettes for over thirty years at a two to three pack a day level. I gave it up a few years ago in favor of orally taking in nicotine fluid (the stuff they put in e-cigs). I also experienced all those benefits you mention from quitting cigarettes.
From the research that I've done, the only health effect from nicotine itself is to contribute to a slight amount of hardening of the arteries and some increased blood pressure levels. Probably about the same effect as adding a little salt to your food. I'm in my sixties. I don't take medications. My blood pressure falls in the normal range. Resting heart rate probably at the lower end of normal for my age.
The story posted to start the thread is fiction, written by somebody that thinks it is his mission in life to demonize nicotine. If the facts don't support his position, he'll just make up some of his own. I suspect you think he's justified in doing it.
[[Just do an internet search on nicotine overdoes or nicotine poisoning]]
Hell- water can kill when abused too-
[[It’s just too easy to take way too much without knowing it.]]
Most people- of which there are billions, both who smoke, and those who use patches etc- know their limits, and regulate their nicotine intake fine without overdosing-
[[It’s just too easy to take way too much without knowing it.]]
the few who do ignore the advice of their docs and warning labels- it’s very easy to stay within the limits and not be sickend
I had an Uncle and an Aunt contract emphysema, neither smoked. They did live on a large farm/ranch for their entire lives though. The doctors told them it was from the dust.
I think you are more likely to contract emphysema from smoking, but there is a genetic component. Maybe a weakness in the lungs, the entire story is not known as of yet. My mother died from emphysema also, she was a smoker.
[[But no one eats tomatoes for the nicotine.]]
speak for yourself- I’m up to 4 cartons of tomatos a day now
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